C782
Whew!
A small Seed of Fire appeared, as if a bonfire were being lit, and with it emerged a brown-haired girl.
Curiously, the girl held a worn-looking wooden sword as if it were a treasure. Raon swallowed with difficulty as he looked at the girl floating like a cloud.
'Is that girl Sia…?'
Since Sia would have been much younger when she put on the Green King's helmet than she is now, it wasn't particularly strange that her soul appeared as a child.
"Fortunately, she doesn't seem to be injured."
Whether Murkada had protected her well or not, there wasn't a single visible scratch on Sia's soul. Whew! As Raon exhaled in relief and tried to approach Sia, the black ashes left by Murkada's soul swirled around him and himself.
'This is…'
As he wondered if he should stop it, he felt the warmth Murkada had shown from the black ashes. Thinking that his actions must have meaning, he lowered his hand. Whew! As Murkada's black ashes carefully seeped into Sia, an intense and vivid red light emerged from her, like the Spirit of Struggle.
"Ah…"
Raon watched the encounter of the two in the light where Murkada and Sia's souls intersected.
[Mom! Dad!]
Young Sia searched for Sylvia and Edgar in the mental world that existed alone. The small visible cabin behind her, the steaming food, and the lush vegetation and trees indicated that she had spent a happy childhood.
[Where are you!]
Sia called out to Sylvia and Edgar as if she thought she was actually sitting there. Of course, neither of them appeared. Before long, the food had cooled, the bushes and trees had withered and fallen, and gray snow had piled up on the cabin. Sia's feelings of despair had affected the mental world.
[Ugh…]
Sia seemed to realize that crying was useless, so she stopped her tears and stood up. She didn't eat or enter the cabin. What Sia took was the old wooden sword caught between the firewood. She grabbed the wooden sword, which looked like the one Edgar had used, and swung it through the air.
[Dad…]
She had no strength, the speed was slow, and the form wasn't proper, but it was clearly Edgar's Mystical Soul Sword. Sia seemed to be trying to overcome her fear by imitating Edgar's swordsmanship. It was something hard to imagine for a normal young girl. Now it felt like she really was Sylvia and Edgar's daughter. Uuuh!
It was when Sia's mind was growing and the forest was trying to regain its greenery. A huge crack opened in her mental world, and another mental world invaded it. It was Murkada's dead and blackened forest. Clash!
The powerful wave created by the collision of the two mental worlds crumbled the cabin and the forest in Sia's mental image like dry leaves.
This phenomenon occurred because Murkada's soul realm was overwhelmingly larger. Crunch! Like an elephant and an ant. No, due to an even greater difference in power, Sia's mental image began to be absorbed by Murkada's.
Murada approached Sia with flaming red eyes. He exhaled a breath mixed with the smell of blood, revealing the despair and anger he felt when he was betrayed and murdered by humans.
[Ah…]
Sia collapsed on the spot, unable to breathe properly, apparently terrified by Murka's killing intent.
[Human!]
Murka gripped his stone sword tighter, as if remembering Essian's childhood through Sia. Sadness and despair seemed to bloom in his trembling eyes. Rumble!
Murka raised the stone sword above his head. Even a light blow would turn Sia into a smear of blood, but he just stared at her with gritted teeth.
[Ugh…]
Before long, what was reflected in Murkada's eyes wasn't anger towards Essian, but concern for the children of the tribe he had sent away at the end. Finally, Murkada carefully lowered the stone sword without giving in to anger. What he chose wasn't desperate revenge against humans, but tolerance.
[You too must be a sacrifice for those demons.]
Murka bit his lip until it bled, pushing away the despair and anger that tried to dominate his mind.
[If I kill you, I will be no different from those beasts.]
He forgave the malice of humans and prayed to the nature gods, hoping that the young members of the tribe would survive well.
[Eh…]
Sia, realizing that Murkada's killing intent had disappeared, clutched her chest and exhaled a turbid breath.
[What's your name?]
Murada knelt down to meet Sia's eye level.
[S-Sia.]
Sia revealed her name, feeling that Murkada's gaze had become warm.
[How did you get here?]
[I don't know. I was with my father, and then strange people with helmets came and…]
She bit her lip, saying she didn't remember anything after that.
[Where is this? Where are my parents?]
[It's hell.]
[T-Then that means I can't see Mom and Dad anymore?]
Sia seemed to know about hell as she clasped her hands together, and her eyes filled with tears.
[No, that's not it…]
Murada stumbled over his words, apparently flustered by Sia's tears.
[Let me explain properly. This place is…]
It was when he was about to explain to Sia again. Crack! Sia's mental world began to melt like snow in spring. If that space collapsed completely, she would disappear too.
Was this their goal?
Murada frowned as he watched Sia's mental image crumble. Those strange beings with helmets must have known that he wouldn't kill that girl and designed it so that the girl would naturally die when the two mental images collided.
[I won't fall for your plans.]
Murada pounded his chest hard and clenched his fist, vowing not to unleash his malice on an innocent child.
[Sia, what is your most precious possession?]
Murada exhaled softly, holding Sia's increasingly weak hand.
[T-This.]
Sia held up the old wooden sword she was holding.
[It's Dad's sword.]
[It's a good sword.]
Murka nodded and said everything would be alright.
[Come over here.]
He led Sia back to his own mental world. Boom! Murka attacked with his stone sword, causing a loud impact in the mental world. He endured unbearable pain, as if his soul was being torn apart, as he continued to destroy his own mental world. Clash!
Thanks to his relentless blows with the stone sword, a hole large enough for a small child to enter finally opened in Murkada's mental image.
[Come in here.]
Murada told Sia to enter the hole as he coughed up black blood. It looked like his soul had suffered a great wound.
[U-Uncle. Are you alright?]
[I'm fine.]
Murada smiled, gently wiping the blood dripping from his mouth.
You said you wanted to meet your mom and dad, right? I'll make sure you meet them.
He patted Sia's head as if to tell her not to worry.
[Uncle, what's your name?]
Sia stopped as she was about to enter the hole and looked up. Her eyes no longer trembled. They were filled with pure innocence that considered Murkada as a human being.
[Murder.]
Murada wiped away the tears from Sia's eyes as he revealed his name.
[I am the most incompetent and stupid King in this world.]
[Wow, a King?]
[Now, go to sleep.]
As Murkada stroked Sia's forehead, she became limp as if falling into a deep sleep.
[There's no time.]
Murada's fingertips trembled as he watched Sia's world crumble. There was no time to lose; he had to cast a spell before that world completely shattered for this girl to survive. Slash! After sealing the hole Sia had entered, Murkada turned his stone sword and stabbed himself in the stomach without hesitation. Roar!
The oath Murkada made as he spilled the blood of his soul was that Sia's soul would be protected as long as he didn't move from that place and that Sia would never wake from her sleep without his consent.
Murada didn't think about avenging Essian or worrying about the tribe that had escaped. His only thought was to save the life before him. It was a moment when his soul ascended to an even higher place.
[Whew.]
Murada lowered his stone sword only after confirming that Sia's soul had settled in his mental image. He smiled faintly as he tamped down the ground to make sure Sia wouldn't wake up.
[It will probably be a long time…]
* * *
Raon bit his lip as he watched Murkada's soul swirling around Sia's.
'Murada…'
Even though he had seen it with his own eyes, he couldn't believe that an Orc who had lost his tribe due to human betrayal would again trust and protect a human. It was amazing even to him, who had been reincarnated.
"Thank you for protecting my sister."
He bowed before Murkada's soul. It was a gesture of praise and respect from one person to another. Uuuuu! Murkada created a small resonance as if accepting the gratitude and then enveloped Sia. Uuuuu!
As the black ashes left by Murkada seeped into Sia, her appearance began to change. From a child to a radiant young woman, she transformed into Sia's current appearance.
It seemed as if Murkada had used his own soul to nourish Sia's soul, as if fulfilling his promise to protect her.
"Murka."
Raon bowed his head towards Murkada's soul, which had weakened as if about to disappear.
"If I have the chance, I will look for your descendants and see if they are doing well."
Zap! The last fragment of Murkada's soul seeped into him as if entrusting him with a request. As he had seen and felt, it was a kinder aura than anyone else's. Zap!
When Murkada's presence completely disappeared, the blackened, dead forest crumbled, and the mental image Sia had seen in the red light came back to life. A small cabin and a lush forest filled the grayish-white space.
Raon watched as Sia descended to the cabin and then lost consciousness.
* * *
When Raon opened his eyes again, he saw Glenn and Merlin frowning.
—Grandpa! It's my turn this time, right?
Merlin lifted his chin towards Glenn.
—What nonsense are you saying! Didn't you carry him yesterday too? And don't call me grandpa!
Glenn frowned as he looked at Merlin.
—"How else could I call grandpa if not grandpa?!"
Merlin shook his head, not backing down.
—I can't reason with you…
—"Umm…"
Raon raised his hand towards Merlin and Glenn.
—Why are you fighting?
—"Eh? Raon? Why are you awake?"
Merlin patted him lightly on the stomach, telling him to sleep more.
—"Ahem…"
Glenn also let out a long, repentant cough.
—Those two were fighting over who would carry you on their back.
Wrath shook his head as if exasperated.
—They've been like this every day, it's so annoying!
He clicked his tongue and said that humans live very boring lives.
'Ah…'
Raon chuckled. Now he understood why the two had been arguing.
—"Don't fight over such strange things… Hm?"
As he tried to get up, stopping the two, he felt his body was light.
'What is this?'
After Wrath's descent, he had felt tired and heavy even after sleeping, but now he felt that all that fatigue had disappeared in an instant.
—"Now that I think about it, you…"
Wrath narrowed his eyes as he looked at Raon.
—What did YOU eat by yourself?!
—"What are you talking about? I didn't eat anything."
—Your soul wounds are already healed! How could that happen without eating something?
He grabbed Raon's neck and asked if he had eaten something delicious by himself again.
—"Raon, what happened inside the mental image?"
Glenn's eyes widened as if he had noticed his own recovery.
'Wait. If I've changed…'
Raon looked at Sia, who was lying on the bed. She also seemed to have properly accepted Murka's soul, emanating a serene aura. Instead of the despair and anger of the Green King she had shown until now, he felt the innocence of young Sia that Murka had protected.
—"Ah, the young lady's soul is growing!"
Merlin also swallowed dryly, feeling Sia's soul growing.
—"This is…"
Glenn quickly turned to Raon as if seeking an answer.
—"I'll tell you."
Raon nodded with a gentle smile.
—"About the true King Murkada…"
* * *
Raon felt his own changes as he practiced swordsmanship behind the lake in the annex building.
—"I've become stronger."
By accepting Wrath, his physical abilities had greatly improved, and his mana circuit had expanded, increasing the speed of his aura manipulation. He thought he would experience a plateau after reaching the peak of Grand Master, but he didn't expect to achieve growth in this way.
—"Grr, this is irritating."
Wrath stared at Raon, frowning.
—How is it possible that my incomplete offspring benefited you! How can that be?
He gritted his teeth and asked why Raon was always so lucky.
—"I don't know either."
Raon chuckled and shrugged. It seemed that his luck in this life was good because his past life had been the worst.
—"Sigh, I'd rather see Murkada, who has terrible luck, instead of you. If I had known he was that kind of person, I would have made him my subordinate…"
Wrath clicked his tongue, regretting not having more conversations with Murkada.
'Me too.'
He nodded, thinking it would have been nice to have a little more time to talk to Murkada.
—"He wasn't destined to be born an Orc. No, that would be disrespectful to him."
Wrath nodded, showing unusual respect for a Demon King.
'That's right.'
It was when Raon was about to resume his training, remembering Murkada's last moments.
—"Young Master!!"
Helen came running, her skirt full of dirt. She was in such a hurry that she stumbled and almost fell, even though it was the path she always used.
—"What's the hurry? You can talk slower…"
—"I can't do that!"
While Raon waved his hand telling her to come slowly, Helen opened her mouth urgently.
—"The Madam has woken up! And the others too!"
-
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